Dortmund celebrates Champions League victory: Svensson sets an exclamation mark!

Dortmund celebrates Champions League victory: Svensson sets an exclamation mark!

In the first game of the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, Borussia Dortmund prevailed on February 11, 2025 with a convincing 3-0 against Sporting CP. This result marks the first victory of coach Niko Kovac on the sidelines of the Dortmund. The place of the event was the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, where about 4,500 fans were present.

The game started behavior. In the first half, both teams had difficulty playing their attacks precisely, which led to many ball losses. With a halftime score of 0: 0, a higher voltage seemed essential. But after the change of sides, Dortmund turned up and showed an impressive increase in performance.

late goals bring the success

The goals for BVB scored between the 60th and 82nd minute. Serhou Guirassy opened the round in the 60th minute, followed by Pascal Groß, who celebrated his first goal for Borussia in the 68th minute. Karim Adeyemi scored the last goal in the 82nd minute. Dortmund had the full first team available, with the exception of Ramy Bensebaini, who was not available due to a muscle injury, and Lukas Nmecha, who was missing due to a knee injury. As a direct episode of Bensebaini's absence, Daniel Svensson made his debut in the Dortmund starting eleven after he was only hired on the last day of the transfer window of Nordsjaelland.

svensson performed his task excellently. He played almost the entire game of 90 minutes, varied between flank runs and supported the defensive stability of the team. Trainer Niko Kovac praised Svenson's performance as "fantastic". Svensson had not played for almost two months before because he was the undisputed regular player at Nordsjaelland. This made its commitment all the more remarkable.

tactical adjustments and outlook

The tactic of the Borussia was created in the 4-2-3-1 system, which changed into a 3-2-2-3 during the game. This flexibility helped the team to increase the pressure on Sporting's defensive. The BVB had previously played in the group phase against Sporting CP and ended in the 10th place, while Sporting had to be satisfied with the 23rd place.

The balance against Sporting from the past remains interesting, because the Dortmund had won in the first three past encounters against the Portuguese, but had to take a defeat 3-1 in the last encounter of the 2021/22 season. The second leg of the current knockout round is on February 19, 2025 at 6:45 p.m. CET in Signal Iduna Park. Previously, BVB meets VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga on February 15, 2025 at 3:30 p.m.

With this victory and the solid performance of Svensson, Borussia Dortmund seems to be on a promising path in the Champions League. A positive sign for the upcoming challenges.